Kodak launches Cryptocurrency & Mining Service

In recent months we’ve seen hundreds of ICOs pop up, all attempting to solve different problems. Until Tuesday, the last company anyone was expecting to enter the cryptocurrency industry was Kodak, the camera company that succumbed to the 21st-century’s technological advancements, making their announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas surprising.

Kodak are partnering with the UK based Wenn Media Group to launch the ICO that will help photographers to control the rights to their images. The aptly named KODAKCoin will allow photographers to sell their images and their IP in exchange for the currency. The coin will run on the KODAKOne blockchain platform, also developed by Wenn Media Groups digital division – Wenn Digital.

This wasn’t the only announcement Kodak made though, they also announced a Bitcoin Mining service using hardware they’re calling the KashMiner. From images circulating online, it looks like a standard ASIC, but instead of purchasing them you hire hashing power.

Kodak appear to be marketing this as a completely new concept, although if anything they are a year or two late to the game. They were also quick to admit that they currently only have 80 of the ASICs available to hire from day one, with 300 ‘expected shortly’. In terms of pricing, it’ll cost $3400 for a 24-month contract and – based on a $14,000 Bitcoin Value – will give you $9,000 in profit. That seems very low, and you’d be right. As part of the contract, you agree to give 50% of your reward back to Kodak!

If you’d like to read the information distributed by Kodak at CES, Chris Hoffman has posted it on Twitter.

Kodak is selling a Bitcoin miner where you pay for a two year contract and “make a profit”. (*at current prices, Kodak gets half of all bitcoin you produce.) This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen at CES. pic.twitter.com/rbzECVEMn7

In my opinion, Kodak should’ve entered the market far earlier than they are attempting to, and at a much bigger scale. 80 rigs is nothing in comparison to the large bitcoin mines, and their claim that ‘the rigs could be put to work on other tasks if Bitcoin faltered’ is frankly ridiculous. ASIC proof currencies are the future, and even if they do fail allow for miners to resell their hardware instead of it being rendered useless.

What do you think? Are Kodak too late? What about the Intellectual Property protecting coin? Tell us in the comments below!